Posted by Ann Daugherty on Jul 15, 2021
Seventy-five members and guests in person and online combined attended President Mary Liu’s (Real Estate: Sales | JM Real Estate Group) first meeting in the new Rotary year at the Hotel Nikko. Those attending in person were treated to red sparkling wine, courtesy of guest Shirley Tan.
 
Visiting Rotarians and Special Guests
In today's audience were the following special guests in person: District Governor Danielle Lallement and Past District Governor Mary Bates and the following special guest online:  Assistant Governor Liz Mark. Additional guests attending in person included:  Anita Baker, Chris Bell, Larry Booth, Chato Calderon, Edna Casteel, Caryn Crump, Edita Cruz, Roselyn de Jesus, Bud Dillon, Tom Fox, Elaine Hom, Rosie Liu, Stanley Liu, Robert Melhorn, Shirley Tan, and James Wong. Online were these guests: David Alfon, Heather Atkinson, Jeff Pickett, and Aline Tong.
 
Closing Out the 2020-2021 Rotary Year
Past President JT Forbus (Accounting | Bogdan & Frasco) introduced Past District Governor Mary Bates who praised the many accomplishments of our Club under JT's Leadership, especially taking five of the coveted eight Rotary District 5150 Club Excellence Awards for Community Service, International Service, Public Image, Youth Service, and Club Administration.
 
Past President JT then ceremoniously passed the gavel to President Mary.
 
District Governor Danielle Lallement inducts President Mary Liu as Past President JT Forbus looks on
Installation of New Board of Directors
District Governor Danielle Lallement administered the vows of the office of club president, and President Mary repeated these vows. Among the vows were promises to take a break when needed and to ask other members for help. DG Danielle then swore in the 2021-2022 Board of Directors (some attending in person while others were online). Click here for the current Club Leadership team. President Mary awarded the Past President's plaque to JT Forbus.
 
First Presidential Message
President Mary delivered her first message as Club President. She reviewed the historical significance of our Club, discussed the many goals for this year, and encouraged everyone to have fun while "Serving to Change Lives".
 
She went on to describe how she became involved in Rotary and Alliance for Smiles thanks to Anita Stangl (Medical Services | Alliance for Smiles) and Cecile Chiquette (Accounting | Fiduciary Administration). Of note is that President Mary completed her Red Badge in just one month and attended both a District and an International Rotary conference shortly after she joined our Club. President Mary expressed gratitude to her husband, her family, and her friends who were in attendance to celebrate this day with her. In addition, she thanked the members of her Board and recognized PDG Sue Rokaw (Law: Insurance | Deans & Homer) for stepping forward to serve as The Rotary Foundation (TRF) Chair for our Club and Dora Dye (Education: Community College | City College of San Francisco) for managing the Club's administrative affairs as Executive Secretary. President Mary also thanked Bud Dillon for returning to help set up the equipment for sound and connection to our Zoom participants.
 
New Members
Jenny CampbellWilliam GregoryPresident Mary and our Vice President of Membership Nancy Graydon (Development | Glaucoma Research Foundation) inducted Bill Gregory (Educational Services | Retired) and Jenny Campbell (Sales: Education | JennyKCampbell.com). Both have already jumped into action in our Club. Bill and Jenny became the first new members to be inducted in person since February 2020. Welcome to Bill and Jenny!
 
$20 for Twenty Seconds
The following donated in honor of President Mary and her presidency:  John Hoch (Financial Services: Advising | Retired) and Tom Brunner (Nonprofit Management | Glaucoma Research Foundation). Casey Blair (Financial Services: Private Trading | KCB Trading, LLC) donated $99 in honor of President Mary and $1 in honor of JT Forbus for raising the bar on his (Casey's) presidency.
  • President Mary donated in appreciation for the support of her friends and family. 
  • John Mathers (Management Consulting | eVo Associates) donated to celebrate our Sister Club in Umbria for renovating frescos.
  • Heidi Kuhn (Peace Building | Roots of Peace) donated to celebrate for being selected as a distinguished recipient of the Forbes 50 OVER 50 2021 IMPACT Award along with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Janet Napolitano, and other dynamic women.
  • Stephanie Schmautz (Elder Care and Senior Services | The Carlisle) donated, because her husband, Eric Schmautz (Banking: Management | Wells Fargo), took their daughters to Florida for 10 days.
The meeting concluded with a raffle prize of a Fitbit; guest Anita Baker was the winner!
 
 
Editor's Note: Thank you to Ann Daugherty (Financial Services: Private Trading | IBN Financial Services) for serving as scribe at this meeting, to both Heidi Kuhn and David Dye (Management Consulting | Retired) for serving as photographers, to Dan Davies (Information Technology: Consulting | North American Lighting) for managing the microphone, and to Evelyn Abad (Medical Services | Rotaplast International) for collecting lunch tickets.